Salem
- C. Atwell
- Nov 26, 2018
- 5 min read
A quick get away to Salem this fall was exactly what I needed to get through the rest of the semester.
In less than 36 hours, we did a self paced Hocus Pocus Walking Tour (which you can read about here), went to the official Salem Witch's Ball, House of the 7 gables, ate a lot of great food, and walked around in the pouring rain.
We caught the first flight out of Dallas. After a slight delay, a 25 minute layover in Philadelphia that sent us sprinting from 1 terminal to the next, and a train out of Boston, we finally made it to Salem around 1pm.
Our first stop was the AirBnB to drop off our bags.
Our gracious hosts for the weekend were a lovely couple named Stephanie and Phil. If you ever go to Salem, I highly suggest staying with them. Their place is new, clean, well priced, and a short walk from everything you’d want to see. Booking information can be found on their AirBnB page !
Finding food was our next venture. Not far from Stephanie and Phil’s, we ran across the Gula-Gula Café.
They have a wide variety of food and their coffee list is quite extensive. I went with the Duck Yeah sandwich and the “Apple of my chai” cider. Cece had the Salmon one and a lavender latte. Both were items that I would have again!
(click on the individual pictures in the gallery and they will expand)
Once our bellies were full, we took a walk down Essex street. Most of what you would want to see can be found on Essex, or directly off of it. The Ropes mansion, bewitched statue, and the witch house are on one end. On the other, the street is closed for pedestrian traffic, so you can wander back and forth between the shops. The old town square (from the movie Hocus Pocus) is also found on this end.
Right off of Essex you can find some pretty cool graffiti
And this house that looks straight out of Saved By The Bell...
All around Salem you will find the painted red lines of the Salem Heritage Trails. They connect the major landmarks, museums, and attractions around town.
Friday night, we made our way to the Hawthorne Hotel (also on Essex Street) for the Official Salem Witches’ Halloween Ball. The Hawthorne also hosts their own Halloween Ball on Saturday night. If you’re thinking of going to Salem for Halloween, I highly suggest going to one of the balls. I would suggest getting your tickets as soon as possible, as they sell out quickly. The Hawthorne Ball tickets were sold out by July, Witches Ball were sold out by August (both go on sale around May/June).
Pictures don’t do the party justice! We had an absolute blast, and the costumes were hands down the best I’ve ever seen. I was waking around staring so much, I completely forgot to take more pictures.
Across from the Hawthorne is the Salem Common, and the Salem Witch Museum. The line for the Witch Museum was over an hour wait. We didn't go, and many people told us it wasn't worth the wait/price of admission.
Dinner that night was at the Olde Main Street Pub.
Lobster bisque, Korean Style Duck Wings, and Steak Tips. The food was good and filling, and they accommodated us quickly, even without a reservation.
I absolutely love this town, everywhere you turn, everything is decorated.
Just a couple of Witches at the bewitched statue.
Following the red line to the Witch House
Our 2nd day in Salem was an extremely rainy affair, but that didn’t stop us! We started the day at Gula-Gula (again).
This time with Andes and Espresso Lattes. I'm still dreaming about the Andes latte. I am going to have to figure out how to make my own.
We also tried the strawberry Nutella crepe!
Our next stop was the House of the 7 Gables . It’s not a far walk from Essex street, but with the rain pouring down we caught an Uber.
You can't buy tickets ahead of time, so make sure to get there early. The ticket cost $16, and gets you a roughly 40 minute tour of the main house. After the tour, you are free to explore the Hawthorne House, and the rest of the grounds. Pictures aren’t allowed in the main house, so I can’t give you any glimpses into the Gables. The inside is beautiful and interesting, with a secret passageway, narrow servants stairs, and period furniture throughout. It’s well worth the tour.
The outside and garden are just as beautiful.
The red house was the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, pictures were allowed there, as well as the numerous other buildings on the property.
On the other side of the street, was Ye Olde Pepper Companie. Which is the oldest candy company in America.
They have a wide range of candy from premade to homemade, chocolate to fruity, new concoctions to old favorites. Their specialties are the Black Jacks and the Gibralters, which are the original candies made since they opened.
Wynott’s wands was next on our list of must do’s.
It was straight out of Harry Potter. All that was missing was Olivander.
Further down the road is a cute little place called Emporium 32.
It featured jewelry, a hat shop, and cute accessories all created by local artists.
On my first trip to Salem we tried to stop by The Lobster Shanty, however there was a 2 hour wait. This trip, thanks to the rain, there was no line! We were sat right away, and I’m so glad we came. The service was quick, amazing, and the staff was there at every turn to answer questions and bring anything you needed.
It’s a small place, but the food is outstanding. We split the Lobster Roll served Connecticut Style (aka warm), and the Wicked Spicy Crab Cake. Both were so ridiculously good I could have died right then and there. The onions with the lobster were on point!
After lunch we stopped by HausWitch for a little card reading with Janine Meaghan.
I took it as a good sign that my favorite flowers were on the table.
Wendy the Witch also looked over us during our reading.
After a jaunt to more shops, we stopped by Caramel Patisserie to grab some snacks for the next day.
They have a nice assortment of croissants (plain, chocolate, almond, honey), as well as bread, and some intricate deserts that I'm still trying to figure out how they make.
After a change of clothes and a long nap to warm up, we braved the rain for one last meal in Salem. This time at Turner Seafood on Church Street.
This place has been voted #1 seafood for a few years running, but honestly we should have skipped it and gone back to The Lobster Shanty.
The lobster Rangoon was good, however our main course of Lobster Pie with rice pilaf was sparse and extremely dry for what we paid for it.
We also had a reservation, and still waited about 45 minutes for our table. Once we were seated, we waited 15 minutes for someone to come by for our drink order, and then another 45 minutes for our main course to come out.
After dinner we took a walk to the cemetery to see the Witch Trial Memorial.
Each of the memorial benches had a different arrangement of flowers and candles in remembrance of the men and women that perished during the witch trials.
Instead of flying out of Boston, we decided to take the train to New York. It took around 4 hours, but was a nice little stop over as we had enough time to check out the Math Museum. Nerdy, I know, however it was a lot of fun!
That's all for this trip. I wanted to thank those of you that read our site. It means a lot that we can share the world through our eyes with you.
Stay safe, have fun, and keep on traveling!
-Until the next adventure!
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